


Hand on Hilt

by LazyWriterGirl



Series: LWG'S FE Femslash Week 2019 (March Edition) [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Implied Dirty Jokes, Rarepair, Swords, fefemslashweek, reference to trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 05:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18067340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriterGirl/pseuds/LazyWriterGirl
Summary: FE Femslash Week 2019Day 3: SwordIn which Panne won't learn to use a bow and must instead learn to wield a sword, much to her wife's amusement...





	Hand on Hilt

It's not like she's the most patient person in the world, or anything, but when Sully likes someone, sure, she's willing to put in a little more effort than normal. And for Panne? Well, for Panne, Sully would do anything.

That's what it means to be married, after all, yeah?

And sure, a part of her is kind of wondering  _ why _ Robin offered a Seal to Panne after all the times she's come in handy using her Beaststone, but Sully's not the tactician here. Besides, Panne as an assassin is a good look. She can appreciate the look. And really, it's not like Robin has a secret wish for Panne to kick the bucket due to not knowing which way's up on a sword or a bow, because Panne's not the only one with no idea what to do with the new weapons she's been issued. Hell, Robin's even got her own wife all wonky with a Flux tome that she's probably not got the first idea about.

Sully kind of doubts that, seeing as it's Cordelia, after all, but  _ still _ .

Robin's decisions have almost always proven to be good ones, so really, if Sully wants to make sure that the streak of good continues, she'll just have to keep her mouth shut and help her wife learn how to use the unfamiliar "man-spawn weapons" that have been sitting in their tent for a few days now, untouched. It won't be too hard; Sully's not an awful teacher, all told. Besides, she'd taken a turn as an assassin herself, for a little while, so it's not like it'll be tough or anything no matter how resistant her wife-slash-student is about this whole business.

"We'll start with bows," she says on the first day she actually manages to get her wife to wake up early enough. True, she's not a masterful archer herself, or anything, but she's good enough that she knows her way around a killer bow, at the very least. If Panne can get up to about the same level, then she's sure they can call it a day and move on to better things, like the sword. Sully much prefers the sword.

Panne picks up the bronze bow she's been given with a look akin to someone who's smelled something rotten while being forced to view an unthinkable crime. It's kinda cute, actually, and Sully thinks that teaching her wife will be a hell of a lot more entertaining than her own lessons with the Archest of Archers had been. "What point is there to battle if you cannot face down your foe, claw to blade, and achieve honour through such a victory?" Panne shakes her head. "I am no coward. I will not wield a coward's weapon."

"Aw, c'mon babe, it's not like that," Sully says, grinning.

"It is not a Taguel's way," says her wife. There's an edge to her voice that wipes the grin from Sully's face. Some people might not be able to tell one of Panne's moods from the other, but Sully, clueless as she can be about this kind of thing, knows her wife. Panne is harder to rattle than most, but just now, holding the bow, she's become shaken to her core.

Sully reaches out a hand, waiting for her wife to step into it, into the comfort she's become used to providing in her capacity as a wife. "Hey, babe, you ok?"

Panne doesn't say anything at first, though her ear do prick slightly to show Sully that she's been heard. After a quick breath Panne says, voice low with grief, "They came with bows, picked us off from a distance. The members of my warren could not fight a foe they could not see, and some of our finest warriors felled by faceless man-spawn as others closed in on our homes with lances that were red even before they ran with our blood. Most of the manspawn hid in the trees for the longest time, hunting our feeble, our young and old as if we were common beasts, nothing but sport animals." Panne shifts on her feet, closer into Sully's chest, her hair and parts of  her soft ears brushing against Sully's chin.

"You don't hafta learn how to use 'em then, Panne, but are you okay to learn with a sword instead?" She's not sure if there's a proper way to ask if the humans who'd attached the warren had also had swords with them, too.

"I should be fine, my love," says Panne, using the old Taguel word for the endearment, as she has done since Sully's proposal. The sound of it makes the paladin smile even if smiling right now isn't  _ technically _ the most appropriate thing to do. "At least with a blade I can maintain some sense of honour in battle."

"You sure as hell will. And you're going to be great at it, I'm sure." Sully isn't even exaggerating her faith in her wife. She's positive that Panne will be a great swordfighter. Granted, Panne's never really had to handle a sword in any sense of the word—the dirty joke sitting on the tip of her tongue has the decency not to let itself loose.

Haha…swords… Panne wouldn't quite get it, perhaps, which would only prove to end up being a little awkward.

But still, it’s a pretty damn good joke.

Shaking herself out of the passing fit of immaturity, she hands her wife the bronze sword she'd had the presence of mind to bring along with them. "Here, we'll start with your grip."

Panne's expression shifts from sadness to something curious, no traces of the dubious, distasteful expression she'd given to the bow.  "It's certainly more ungainly than fighting with my stone." She lifts the sword up, inspects it, and takes an experimental swing that forces Sully to duck, barely containing a startled yelp in the process. "Hm. I can't say I like this."

"It's gonna take a little getting used to," Sully says, taking the sword from her wife. "Here, lemme show you how to hold it." She smothers her smile in her collar as the joke once again rears its...head…

Aw shit, how is she not supposed to laugh when the joke is  _ right there _ ?

She goes through a few different grips, making a focused effort, the most concentrated she's been in a while, to show her wife the grips typically preferred by beginners. Panne seems interested in the slight tricks and impractical flips she throws in for her wife's amusement. "Show me the beginner's stance again, my love."

She does, then passes the sword back to Panne. "Now you try." Panne looks almost unnaturally concentrated as she takes the sword, trying first with her left hand, then with her right. Favouring her right hand, she adjusts her grip until it's a pretty decent match to what Sully had shown her.

It shouldn't really be surprising that her wife doesn't seem to be as nervous as the average beginner, but it still is. She looks good. Real good. So much so that Sully has to fuss over making minor corrections to her stance so that Panne can't see how red she is.

Damn, and she used to be so smooth with women, too!

"RIght, so now you're holdin' it, but you're gonna need to swing it, too. Let's go through a few basic moves first." Panne inclines her head, still not completely convinced from the looks of it, but open enough. She's a quicker study than Sully had been expecting, which is good. And the natural grace of her movements, paired with her natural ferocity, make her an excellent combatant even without the benefits of her Beaststone.

Sure, Sully thinks as she watches her wife hack at the training dummy she'd set up, sure there may be something to be desired in the way Panne holds the sword. She's probably never going to get used to holding it any way other than forward, and she's probably always going to have some disdain for it, but—and this is very important—she does have a talent for swordplay. 

  
  
  


Sully couldn't be prouder of her wife if she tried, and she says as much to Robin and Cordelia later in the week, as everyone lolls about in the grass after dinner.

"I had a feeling she'd prove a natural," Robin says, but there's a shyness in her voice that Sully hasn't heard from her in a long while. "I do need to apologize to her though…about the bow…"

Sully shakes her head; no way had Robin meant anything by it, so really, she shouldn't apologize. Besides, of all the man-spawn Panne's come to know as a Shepherd, she's always saying that Robin and Cordelia are her favourites (aside, of course, from her mate). "She'll be fine. And she's not even mad at ya, honest."

“But…”

“No, Robin, trust me, yer fine!” Sully says, then, with a conspiratorial glance at Cordelia, who either doesn’t know what she’s about to say, else doesn’t want to know, adds, “And I mean, really, for a woman who’s never had to, she handles a sword  _ real  _ well.”

"I'm glad for that, then," Robin says, though from the tinge of pink on her cheeks she gets what Sully’s trying to say. She and Cordelia take their leave shortly after, and Sully stretches out her arms as she walks back to her tent. She figures, at the rate Panne seems to be improving, that she'll let her wife take the lead in the next skirmish. It'll be at least a few weeks before they have to move, at any rate, even though this whole Conqueror business seems to have everybody nervous as hell. No use rushing into it.

"There you are, my love," Panne says by way of greeting.

"Here I am," she says, wrapping her wife up in a hug. "How was the hunting tonight?" she asks, laughing at the lonely bronze sword in Panne's corner of the tent. Panne had forgone it once again.

"It went well," Panne answers, leaning up slightly to nip at Sully's chin. Hunting tends to make her playful, and Sully, given how she's had to rein herself in every time she and Panne practice, is particularly thankful for it tonight. Even more so than she normally would be. 

The enthusiasm with which Panne backs her against their cot makes her forget all about her plans for tomorrow's training, or the next skirmish, or anything aside from the heat of Panne's body and the feeling of her wife's mouth travelling down her neck and beyond as Panne peels her clothing away.

  
  


***

  
  


"Okay babe, let's go through this set three more times, and then we can take a break."

Panne grins and nods, getting back into her ready stance. At Sully's signal, she begins to move through the forms she's been learning over the last week and a bit, and there's an energy in her movements which suggests that she's enjoying herself. Sully likes that, of course, almost as much as she likes the solid look of Panne's strikes, and the way that the sword is starting to look like an extension of her wife's lithe, powerful arm. They just need an actual battle now, somewhere where her wife can test her ability against a real enemy. If she feels ready, of course, which Sully should probably ask about before anything else.

Panne tilts her head at the question, testing the weight of the blade in her hands. "I think I should like the opportunity to test myself in battle with this man-spawn weapon."

"Excellent," Sully says, "I'll go ask Robin if there's any action nearby that she wants handled.

Robin, as it turns out, wants Cordelia to get in some combat experience with her new tome. "There's a small Risen encampment a little ways off from here. The four of us should be more than enough."

Sully grins. "I'll tell Panne to get ready."

Panne is already getting ready when she gets back to their tent, and Sully has to stop herself from enjoying the view too much. WIth the addition of the bronze sword belted in Panne's hip, she looks like some extremely attractive Taguel legend, though Sully doesn't know if it would be wise to mention it. "Before we go, my love," Panne says, handing Sully her lance, "I think you should know that I'm still not too pleased by this rod in my hand.”

Sully has to stop herself from laughing. All she manages is a half-choked, “Oh?”

“It isn't natural." Panne says, and there’s something almost akin to suspicion in her eyes.

"Tell ya what," Sully says as they walk together to where all the horses are tied, "If you really don't like the feel of it, later, we'll talk to Robin and see about giving you back your Beaststone."

Panne kisses her for that, sweet and slow. "You're a good mate, Sully."

"I aim to please. Now, you ready to show the Risen how well you handle a sword?"

The grin on Panne's face turns positively filthy, and Sully almost misses Panne's witty retort, stunned with surprise as she is.

  
  
  


Turns out her wife gets the joke after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm essentially mixing up femslash week and rarepair week, which I never participate in but should.
> 
> I apologize for Day 3, I promise this will be the worst of the bunch...hope it will be, rather. Hit me up [on Tumblr](https://lazywritergirl.tumblr.com) if you wanna, I'll take requests/listen to you about whatever/or just answer whatever questions you may have cuz I...don't talk to people in real life about my writing.


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